Ben
Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon, has said, “We may be warming. We may be
cooling.” Former Florida governor Jeb Bush grants that climate change
is real, but he’s unwilling to say it is caused by humans.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, sees a conspiracy: “The concept of global
warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US
manufacturing noncompetitive.”

Most of the 17 Republicans running
for president are skeptical about climate change caused by humans, a
stance that appears to line up with conservative voters who hold sway in
the GOP primary contest.
But it jeopardizes their chances with
the broader swath of voters who will determine the winner of the general
election — and Democrats are ready to take advantage of that
opportunity.

Most of the 17 Republicans running for president are skeptical about climate change caused by humans.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic
nomination, is moving rapidly to exploit the Republican opposition by
making climate change a central issue in her campaign. This week, she
outlined a new proposal to install enough solar panels to power every
home in the country. Clinton knocked Republican candidates who punt on
the issue by claiming a lack of expertise.

“Those people on the
other side, they will answer any question about climate change by
saying, ‘I’m not a scientist,’” she said Sunday in Iowa. “Well, I’m not a
scientist either. I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain.”

The leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party,
Selahattin Demirtas, is under investigation by a Turkish prosecutor over
allegations that he “provoked and armed” protesters during
demonstrations in the country last year.

Demirtas has accused Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan of
launching air strikes in Syria and Iraq to prevent Kurdish territorial
and political gains.

Demirtas said: “Erdogan is doing this to create a false
perception among the general population. His main objective is not to
disarm the PKK but instead make sure the People’s Democratic Party pays the price for PKK
violence. He doesn’t care about peace,” he added. “Erdogan wants to
take revenge out on the People’s Democratic Party for their results in
the elections.”

The investigation comes as Ankara carries out air strikes against the PKK in Iraq, a move that has brought years of peace efforts close to collapse.

Ahead of the IOC vote, both the Almaty and Bejing bids had drawn criticism from human-rights groups.

Human Rights Watch has cited violence and
discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face
in Kazakhstan, according to the AP, while activists say China's
human-rights record worsened rather than improved after the 2008
Olympics.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to chair an emergency
meeting on the situation in Calais, where thousands of people have tried
to stowaway to the UK. Cameron has come under fire for calling them a
"swarm."

The meeting of the UK government's COBRA emergency committee was due to
be held Friday, following another night in which hundreds of people
attempted to reach the Channel Tunnel which links the French port of
Calais - and mainland Europe - with Britain.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office posted on its official Twitter
channel that the meeting would be about how the government would
"tackle" the problem.

Note EU-Digest: It's amazing to see with what incompetence this problem is handled by the EU, France and Britain.

7/30/15

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose
around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a
major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. …
“fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress … handcuffing
themselves, so as to prevent any amendments or adequate debate before
the final vote … TPP is another euphemism that is used to avoid the word
“treaty”, which would require ratification by two-thirds of the Senate.

The corporate-indentured politicians keep calling this gigantic
treaty with thirty chapters, of which only five relate to traditional
trade issues…. The other twenty-five chapters, if passed as they are,
will have serious impacts on peoples livelihoods as workers and consumers,
as well as your air, water, food, and medicines.

"Only corporations … are entitled to sue the U.S. and other governments for
any alleged harm to their profits from health, safety or other
regulations in secret tribunals that operate as offshore kangaroo
courts, not in open courts. – Ralph Nader"

On Wednesday July 29, Greenspan decried a rise in entitlement costs, which he contended have pressured the U.S. economy.

"To me the discussion today shouldn't even be on
monetary policy it should be on how do we constrain this extraordinary
rise in entitlements," he said in a CNBC "Closing Bell" interview, calling the trend "extremely dangerous."

Royal Dutch Shell warned on Thursday that lower oil prices could continue for several years, and said it was planning for a prolonged downturn.

It comes as the Anglo–Dutch multinational reported
that earnings in the second quarter, on a current cost of supplies
(CCS) basis, came in at $3.4 billion - down from $5.1 billion for the
same quarter a year ago. CCS is a way of reporting income that takes
into account changes in expenses over the period.

hell also revealed plans to further reduce 2015 capital expenditure
(capex) to $30 billion, down by 20 percent from a year ago on the back
of a downturn in oil prices, and said it planned to cut 6,500 jobs over
the year.

CEO Ben van Beurden said that the company was
successfully "reducing our capital spending and operating costs, and
delivering a competitive performance in today's oil market downturn."

"We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery.

Note EU-Digest :Royal Dutch Shell
said on Thursday that its profit fell sharply in the second quarter as a
strong performance in marketing and refining failed to offset the brunt
of lower oil and gas prices.

The
oil giant also said it would cut its capital investment and eliminate
6,500 jobs as the drop in oil and gas prices squeezes its vast global
exploration and production operations.

The
company, based in The Hague, said earnings adjusted for inventory
changes and excluding one-time items were $3.8 billion, compared with
$6.1 billion in the same period in 2014.

Senator Ted Cruz voiced the unhappiness of many Republican conservatives
when he took to the floor of the Senate last Friday and in a rare
intraparty broadside accused GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell of lying.
Veteran Republican senators quickly rallied to McConnell’s defense.

Was it the shot fired at Fort Sumter that signals the real start of a GOP civil war?

Cruz said McConnell had told Republican conservatives in the Senate that
there was no behind-the-scenes deal to revive the controversial
Export-Import Bank. Conservatives view the bank as corporate welfare,
while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and pro-business Republicans are big
supporters of it. But rather than let the bank stand or fall on a
separate vote, McConnell announced at the last minute that a measure
allowing reauthorization of the bank would be attached to much more
popular legislation for funding highways. This maneuver guaranteed the
bank’s reauthorization.

Conservative senators hit the ceiling. “The American people elected a
Republican majority believing that a Republican majority would be
somehow different from a Democratic majority in the United States
Senate,” Cruz said, comparing McConnell to his predecessor as Senate
majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid. “Unfortunately, the way the
current Senate operates, there is one party, the Washington party.”

U.S. policy on Iraq, Syria and the surrounding countries seems to
have been left solely in the hands of amateurs in the White House. That
is not a partisan statement, for it applies to both the current and
previous occupants. The next occupant, regardless of party, seems likely
to muck it up as well.

In the blinding desire to destroy ISIS, Mr. Obama and his team were
so keen on getting rights to use Turkish air bases that they completely
forgot about the dark side of Mr. Erdogan.

No sooner had the agreement on bases been reached than Turkey’s own
aircraft began pounding Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and
Iraq.

The government, which still lacks a governing mandate after no party won a majority in the recent elections,
has officially put the anti-ISIS PKK fighters on the same threat level
as ISIS. In reality, Kurdish fighters appear to be a much bigger target
of the Turkish Air Force than the ISIS fighters.

The point of all this maneuvering is that Erdogan hopes to leverage
wartime fervor into a favorable nationalist coalition or a new election
with a better outcome for himself.

Don’t confuse it with the
Disney movie or theme park attraction: this Tomorrowland is all about
music. Specifically, Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival is the world’s
biggest electronic dance music festival, held during the last weekend of July in the appropriately named Boom, Belgium.

Running since 2005, Tomorrowland brings together musicians
from all over the globe in a massive celebration of electronic music,
dance, and spectacle. Its attendance has skyrocketed over the years,
with last year’s Tomorrowland clocking in at 360,000 attendees coming in
from 200 different countries.

This year, attendance is expected to top
400,000, with the official site touting dozens of acts sure to appeal to electronic music fans.

Billboard
has already started delivering a blow-by-blow account of the acts
taking the stage at Tomorrowland 2015, detailing everything from
surprise performances and remixes to the variety of visuals executed
during the various acts
.
Attendees of this year’s Tomorrowland are already flooding
social media with photos of the spectacular stages built for the guests’
various performances.

7/29/15

The scariest thing about addressing "too-big-to-fail" banks is that
there's no dress rehearsal. For all the plans, simulations, and
preparations, the only way to know that the problem of banks being
excessively interconnected in the wider economy has been solved is when
one of these banks fails—but doesn't take the rest of the economy with
it. Until that happens, elected officials and regulators are left to
look back at the 2008 debacle and argue about whether they've put the
pieces in place to keep it from happening again.

But in the midst of that argument, this much is clear: These banks are as big, or bigger, than they ever have been.

"They
have a potential to have a catastrophic effect," says Thomas Hoenig,
vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "They are
larger than they were at the last crisis."

That
does not mean that there haven't been attempts to mitigate the problem
of banks being so large that they require a bailout. In the five years
since Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, regulators
have implemented a suite of measures aimed at ensuring that the nation's
largest banks are sound and that, should they wobble, the economy won't
go with them. The question of how to handle Wall Street, and what to do
about Dodd-Frank, quickly is becoming a prime point of contention early
in the 2016 presidential campaign.

To
put it mildly, there's no consensus on whether Dodd-Frank has adequately
addressed the too-big-to-fail question, or even if regulation is headed
in the right direction.

Read more: Too Big to Fail' Is Still a Problem. Here's How D.C. Wants to End It. - NationalJournal.com

President
Barack Obama's stepped-up partnership with Turkey in fighting the
Islamic State may come at the cost of alienating another key group he's
counting on for help in the same conflict: the Kurds.

"Knowingly
or not, the U.S. is going to end up having to choose between the Turks
and the Kurds," said Blaise Misztal, national security director at the
Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center.

While
defending Turkey publicly, the U.S. has been urging Turkey to be
"judicious" in its retaliation against the PKK, senior U.S. officials
said. But Turkey's air campaign shows few signs of letting up.

Turkish
jets hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq overnight and the
government said strikes would continue until the rebels lay down their
arms. White House spokesman Eric Schultz called Wednesday for "a return
to the peaceful solution process," but Turkey's prime minister shot down
that prospect until the PKK withdraws its armed fighters from Turkey.

Maurice Obstfeld, who's just been appointed chief economist
for the International Monetary Fund, has followed the common European
currency project for decades -- since it was a relatively loose
association -- and warned early on about the problems the euro faces
today.

Perhaps if European politicians listen to him now, they will
argue less about how to make the currency union work
.
Obstfeld, a
macroeconomist who has co-authored textbooks with both Kenneth Rogoff
and Paul Krugman -- economists on opposite sides of a bitter debate over
austerity, government debt and economic growth -- is clearly capable of
finding a middle ground. In that sense alone, he's a wise choice for
the IMF job. His policy recommendations for Europe, however, have been
clear and consistent: If the monetary union is to work, the euro zone
needs more integration.

"Europe's Gamble" is what Obstfeld called the union in 1997, not long before the introduction of the euro, in a 300-page paper.
This includes a highly readable history of the union, beginning with
the European Coal and Steel Community that was formed in 1951 to bind
Germany closer to the countries it had invaded, notably France. Obstfeld
provides plenty of juicy, long-forgotten tidbits about countries
scrambling to meet the common currency criteria: a fiscal deficit as
close as possible to 3 percent of gross domestic product, inflation
close to that of the member nations with the slowest-rising prices, a
debt-to-GDP ratio of 60 percent (or at least strong evidence that it was
headed that way).

Profligate Germany, for example, tried and failed to
revalue its central bank's gold reserves to book the difference as
revenue for its budget and cut the deficit -- even as it tried to keep
out shakier Italy, Spain and Portugal for fear they would make the new
currency much "softer" than the Deutsche mark.

The paper also contains paragraphs that now read as striking predictions:

7/28/15

Security crackdowns in the port of Calais have prompted more migrants to
attempt the crossing underground through the Eurotunnel. The massive
waves of migrants trying to get through has worried the British
government.

In a desperate bid to reach England from the French port of Calais,
around 2,000 migrants tried to enter the Eurotunnel overnight, according
to a statement from a company spokesman on Tuesday. "Between midnight
and 6:00 am," the spokesman said, the waves of migrants, many living in
despair at a better future after months of living in tents at the French
port, attempted
the sometimes fatal bid to reach Britain through the tunnel.

"It was the biggest incursion effort in the past month and a half," said
the Eurotunnel spokesman, adding that "all our security personnel, that
is nearly 200 people, as well as police were called in."

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed the numbers to news
agency AFP, saying "there were some arrests and it all passed off
without a fuss." Local authorities, however, disputed the amount, with
police saying that despite "regular incursion attempts" it was incorrect
to "say that there were 2,000 migrants at the same time."

Calais officials were unable to say if anyone had been injured in their attempts to access the tunnel.
The incident did cause serious disruptions to train service in the
Eurotunnel for much of Tuesday, which passengers held up for around an
hour on the British side and half an hour on the French side.

Dozens of prominent scientists have put their names to an open letter
warning the public about the danger of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
They are, specifically, worried about potential developments in
autonomous weapons, made possible by the progress of robotics and AI.

Among those endorsing the letter are Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky and Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame.

In the letter, the signatories claim “the deployment of such systems
is – practically if not legally – feasible within years, not decades,
and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”They highlight a large list of possible drawbacks to consider, should such weapons become reality.

For example, the signatories argue that they are relatively cheap to
mass-produce, which could lower the boundaries for going to war, since fewer (if any) human lives would be lost.
The ‘human factor’ is also listed as one of few advantages of autonomous weapons, however, it is followed by:

“There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans,
especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.”

Mass-production could mean the weapons would easily end up on the
black market or in the hands of terrorists wishing to destabilise
nations, or war lords “wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc.”

They write: “the key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting.”

Their response: “A military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity.”

As many well-educated people can't find jobs in crisis-stricken Europe,
they turn south. More migrants are moving from Europe to Latin America
and the Caribbean than the other way round. Jane Chambers reports from
Chile.

Originally hailing from Seville in southern Spain, Magdalena Martín Sevilla decided to make Chile her new home after she
couldn't find any work for months. In 2012, she packed her bags and left Spain.

"The economic situation has been terrible since 2008," she said. "It's
impossible to find work in your area. People just end up doing low-paid
jobs that they don't want to do."

Before the crisis hit, Sevilla, who's in her late 20s, studied with the
goal of helping low-income families. After she graduated, she spent five
months looking for work in Spain. When a foundation in Chile offered
her a job, she didn't think twice about taking it. She moved to Chile's
capital Santiago to fight poverty in Latin America.

Moving to Chile and fitting in was easy for her since Spanish is her
mother tongue, but she says she still struggles as she misses her family
and friends. And she feels people in Spain know how to enjoy life a
little bit more.

7/27/15

The link below will take you to a transcript of a Social Europe podcast
in which Social Europe Editor-in-Chief Henning Meyer discusses the
impact of the Digital Revolution on the nature of work and
inequality with Michael A. Osborne, Associate Professor in Machine
Learning and Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology
and Employment at the University of Oxford.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG group on Monday accused Turkey of targeting
its positions inside Syria, a charge Ankara denied amid growing tensions
between Turkey and Kurdish groups in the region.

In a statement released Monday, the Syrian Kurdish
YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) said the Turkish army targeted
one of the group’s vehicles in the border village of Til Findire, east
of the border town of Kobane, where the Kurds handed a major defeat to
the Islamic State (IS) group earlier this year.

The YPG, a Syrian group affiliated with the banned Turkish PKK
(Kurdistan Workers Party), has been one of the most effective groups
battling Islamic State militants in Syria, but Turkey fears they could
revive an insurgency against Ankara in pursuit of an independent state.

China's benchmark stock market slid 8.5 percent on Monday,
suffering its biggest daily loss since 2007, indicating that there is
seemingly no reprieve to the violent selling rocking the country's
equities.

A sharp fall in commodity prices, weak Chinese
economic data and concerns that Beijing may be reluctant to dole out
further measures to support beaten-up shares all contributed to the
sell-off, analysts said.

7/26/15

Turkey on Sunday called for a meeting of its NATO allies to discuss
threats to its security and its airstrikes targeting Islamic State
militants in Syria and Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

The move came as
Turkey's state-run media reported that Turkish F-16 jets again took off
from the country's southeastern Diyarbakir air base to hit Kurdistan
Workers' Party, or PKK targets across the border in northern Iraq.

There
was no immediate confirmation of the report by TRT television, which
came hours after authorities said PKK militants detonated a car-bomb
near Diyarbakir, killing two soldiers and wounding four others.

NATO
announced that its decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council,
will convene Tuesday after Ankara invoked the alliance's Article 4,
which allows member states to request a meeting if they feel their
territorial integrity or security is under threat.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey would inform allies about
the airstrikes which followed an IS suicide bombing near Turkey's border
with Syria that left 32 people dead, and an IS attack on Turkish
forces, which killed a soldier.

Turkey requested the meeting,
which includes ambassadors of all 28 member countries, "in view of the
seriousness of the situation after the heinous terrorist attacks in
recent days," NATO said.

NATO itself is not involved in operations
against the Islamic State group, although many of its members are. As
an alliance, however, NATO is committed to helping defend Turkey.

ou’ve probably never heard of the “Tallinn Treaty,” have you? There’s a
good reason for it, though, which is that it doesn’t actually exist yet.

But if I’m right, the Tallinn Treaty of 2018 will be the successor to
the Lisbon Treaty, and it will solve just about all of the European
Union’s current panoply of problems, including Greece.

Ten years ago, in 2005, the European Union was in disarray, coming to
terms as it was by the recent referendum defeats in both France and the
Netherlands on the question of the ratification of the draft EU
Constitution.

Back in those days, (i.e. in contrast to the recent Greek
referendum), it took relatively more time for policy-makers to ignore
the will of their people.

Indeed it wasn’t until two years later, on the 50th anniversary of
the signing of the original Treaty of Rome, that the so-called Berlin Declaration
resolved to seek a “renewed common basis” for the European Union in
time for the European Parliamentary elections that were scheduled for
2009.

It was called the Berlin Declaration because, as fate would have it,
it was issued during Germany’s turn in the rotating EU Presidency. By
the time its Presidency was wrapping up in June 2007, the main
parameters of the next Treaty change were all but agreed, and an
Intergovernmental Conference was launched.
By December, the work of the Conference was done.

Germany may have done the heavy lifting, but it was Portugal’s turn
as President by then, and so the final treaty would be known as the
Lisbon Treaty.

Wrapping things up in March 2018, EU leaders will gather in Estonia to sign the Tallinn Treaty, the Lisbon’s Treaty successor.

There will be something in it for everyone. It’s actually more or
less the only positive way forward for Europe, if you think about it.

The UK has to stay in the EU, Barack Obama says. Only then will it be
able to continue to play a role on the international stage. More than
anything, he has US interests in mind, Gero Schliess writes in
Washington.

Some observers may have rubbed their eyes in disbelief: For the longest
time, the Americans had gone out of their way to avoid EU matters. Yet,
suddenly US President Barack Obama (right in photo) is concerned about
the unity of Europe, urgently advising the British that they should not
turn their backs on the "Group of 28."

It remains to be seen whether
Obama has done himself any favors with his unusually public plea.
Euroskeptics in Britain have already said they will not tolerate his
meddling.

The president has repeatedly stated that he cannot imagine a European
Union without Britain. However, he has never expressed himself so
directly in public. Has Obama become a convinced European? Has he come
to appreciate a strong and unified Europe in light of the increasing
gravity of global crises? That is only part of the truth.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said recently that
economic inequality and institutional racism are "parallel problems"
that both must be addressed at the same time.

"We have to end institutional racism, but we have to deal with the
reality that 50 percent of young black kids are unemployed, that we have
massive poverty in America, that we have an unsustainable level of
income and wealth inequality," he said on NBC's Meet the Press.

"We have to address both," he added, referencing the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. to combat poverty in America.

Sanders was lambasted by some black activists
last weekend at progressive conference Netroots Nation, where critics
accused him of focusing on economic issues over racial inequality.

"My view is that we have got to deal with the
fact that the middle class in this country is disappearing, that we have
millions of people working for wages that are much too low impacts
everybody, impacts the African American community even more," he said on
Sunday. "Those are issues that do have to be dealt with, and just at
the same time as we deal with institutional racism."

If you live in one of the following countries then your intuition might be right, as there are dozens of snoopers around you!

Cheetah Mobile recently conducted a survey of 10 million phone users
all over the world to find out which countries had the biggest phone
voyeur problem. The top 10 are Brazil, Mexico, US, Russia, Turkey,
Columbia, India, Korea, Italy and Germany!

According to the
survey, about 25% of Brazilian users have had problems with people
snooping on their phones. Mexica follows with 22%, US 21% and Russia
18%. The average figure among all countries is roughly 13%, which means
that wherever you live, your phone privacy is at risk!

7/25/15

In an interview with the BBC,US President, Mr Obama said it was "distressing" for him not to have made progress on the issueof gun control "even in the face of repeated mass killings".

He vowed to keep trying, but the BBC's North America editor Jon Sopel said the president did not sound very confident.

Hours after the interview, a gunman opened fire at a cinema in the US state of Louisiana, killing two people and injuring several others before shooting himself.

President Obama said that America should be "ashamed" of the "off the charts" amount of gun violence in the country and chastised lawmakers who are not willing to take on the gun lobby

."My biggest frustration so far is that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps" to curb gun violence, Obama said during a question-and-answer Tuesday. All queries were submitted through the social network Tumblr.

Obama said the country needs to "do some soul searching" about a culture where mass shootings have become pervasive."We're the only developed country on Earth where this happens," Obama said. "And it happens now once a week. And it's a one-day story. There's no place else like this."

Figures show that more people in America are killed yearly by gun violence than by terrorism around the world.

7/24/15

The European Union
on Thursday launched an antitrust case against six major U.S. movie
studios and British satellite broadcaster Sky UK, in a move that could
profoundly shake up the highly lucrative pay-television market in
Europe.

The EU's executive Commission has sent a so-called
statement of objections to the companies regarding what it says are
"contractual restrictions" preventing EU consumers outside Britain and
Ireland from accessing the services of Sky UK.

"European
consumers want to watch the pay-TV channels of their choice regardless
of where they live or travel in the EU," EU antitrust chief Margrethe
Vestager said. "Our investigation shows that they cannot do this today."

The companies involved are all household names and produce some of the most popular — and profitable — movies around.

In
addition to Sky, which has cornered a large chunk of the British pay-TV
market through its acquisition of sports and movie rights, the
Commission sent its objections to NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures,
Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and Warner Bros.

In a
statement, the Commission said it found clauses requiring Sky to block
access to films through its online or satellite pay-TV services to
consumers outside Britain and Ireland — so-called "geo-blocking."Note EU-Digest: Good action by EU Commission. Private sector should keep hands-off prohibiting free-choice of consumers in every area, including cultural expressions and presentations.

7/23/15

The White House is in the "final stages" of a plan to close the
Guantanamo Bay detention facility, spokesman

Josh Earnest said
Wednesday.
President Barack Obama
made the closure of the controversial offshore prison a priority when
he took office in 2009, but the plan has faced numerous setbacks,
including Congress blocking the transfer of detainees to US prisons.

"The administration is in fact in the final stages of drafting a plan
to safely and responsibly (close) the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to
present that to Congress," Earnest said.

"That has been something that our national security officials have
been working on for quite some time, primarily because it is a priority
of the president."

The operation of the center in Cuba is not an effective use of government resources, Earnest told reporters.
"This is complicated work, but we have made a lot of important progress," he added.

Residents of the Palestinian village of Sussiya on Sunday called on the
European Union to suspend its trade agreements with Israel to protest
the pending demolition of unauthorized homes in their herding community in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank.

European
support for Sussiya must be backed with action, the community spokesman
Nasser Muhammed Nawajah wrote in a letter he sent to EU foreign policy
chief Federica Mogherini.

“Until today European support of the
Israeli economy is expressed in the preferential conditions that Israel
receives under its Trade and Association Agreements with Europe. The
association agreement stipulates that ‘relations between the parties, as
well as all the provisions of the agreement itself shall be based on
respect for human rights and democratic principles’ and that this
‘constitutes an essential element of this agreement,’” he wrote

“In
our opinion Sussiya is one example of how Israel continues to violate
these principles and therefore we urge you to suspend Europe’s trade
agreement with Israel as well as end trade with companies operating in
settlements on occupied territories until Israel fulfills its obligation
under international law,” he wrote.

A copy of the letter was posted on the twitter site of the NGO, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination committee.
The US on Thursday warned Israel against the pending demolition of structures both in Sussiya and nearby Wadi Jahish.

“Demolition
of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of
Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative,” State
Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on
Thursday, as he focused his public comments on Sussiya.

Spain has raised the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 16, having had the lowest marrying age in Europe.

Before
the age was raised, boys and girls could marry at the age of 14 with
the permission of a judge. It is now level with most European countries.

The change comes only months after the government raised the age of consent from 13 to 16.
The government announced its intention to alter the law in April 2013, but it came into force only on Thursday.

The move was welcomed by officials from Unicef and children's rights groups in Spain.According to El Pais (in Spanish), only 365 marriages involving under-16s took place in Spain between 2000 and 2014 - with only five in 2014.

In the 1990s, however, there were 2,678 marriages involving at least one under-16 - and 12,867 in the 1980s.

Greece's most influential think tank warned on Thursday of
a sharp drop back into recession in a report that came hours after
parliament approved a second package of reform measures aimed at securing a new bailout from international lenders.

In its quarterly report, the IOBE institute
said that capital controls imposed last month to stop a bank run
pushing the financial system into collapse would exact a heavy toll
across the economy.

Reversing a forecast for growth this year of 1
percent made as recently as April, it said the economy would contract
by as much as 2.0-2.5 percent after growing 0.7 percent in 2014 and
would remain in recession next year as well.

The Netherlands is already home to the world’s first solar road (or bike lane, technically). Now, the country could soon be the first to use recycled plastic as pavement.

The idea for plastic roads comes from VolkerWessels, a Netherlands-based construction firm. According to the company, plastic roads
would be a “virtually maintenance free product” that’s “unaffected by
corrosion and the weather.” The roads could handle temperatures as low
as -40°F and as high as 176°F.

The company says that this hardiness will
make the roads’ lifespans three times as long as typical asphalt roads.

The idea for plastic roads came after the company took a look at all
the different road-related problems cities face, said Simon Jorritsma
from InfraLinq,
a subdivision of VolkerWessels and KWS Infra that works specifically
with asphalt. Those problems included a future where oil — the main
component of asphalt — is less available, as well as more immediate
problems like flooding and road maintenance.

“For contractors, asphalt is a great and sound product to build
roads,” Jorritsma said in an email to ThinkProgress. “However,
contractors have to meet more and more demands concerning noise
reduction, water permeability, and flatness. These questions and
conditions were the inspiration which have led to the idea of the
PlasticRoad.”

As an objective description, that may not even be far off. The
question is why things have turned out this way. Notably, the suggestion
implied in Grillo’s analysis is that the mere act of joining the euro,
like some magic wand, would take care of most of Italy’s problems.

Alas, crucial economic reforms can’t be had if they are put on
autopilot. In fact, there’s a major contradiction in Grillo’s thinking:
On the one hand, he wants nations to remain sovereign in their
decision-making. On the other hand, he expects Brussels, in effect, to
take care of the problems that lie in Italy’s way.

While a Grexit has been avoided in the short term, the medium- to longer-term risk remains.

But
in many ways the last few weeks in Greece have been the start of a
bigger battle, a battle on what the eurozone of the future will look
like.

Few now doubt that the institutional architecture of the
zone is flawed. A currency union without a fiscal union was always
vulnerable to these sort of shocks. And, perhaps more crucially, a
currency union in which the banking system is still predominantly
national, rather than European, was always likely to run into problems.

In a more ideal world - in a situation in which Greek banks were
constrained and unable to extent credit - French, German and other
lenders would have stepped into the breach.

It's hard to avoid the thought that the politics of European integration ran ahead of the economics of the underlying reality.

The
last few weeks have exposed a sharp Franco-German divide. On one level,
this is ideological. For France the euro is irreversible, the
culmination of decades of integration. But the German view differs. They
see the single currency as an agreed set of rules and behaviours and,
if someone "breaks" the rules, they can be thrown out.

Their
analysis of the underlying economics of the crisis differs, too. The
Germans believe the tough fiscal rules agreed in 2012 are the answer to
the crisis: legislate that states should be running sound public
finances and these sorts of crises won't appear.

In a more ideal world - in a situation in which Greek banks were
constrained and unable to extent credit - French, German and other
lenders would have stepped into the breach.

It's hard to avoid the thought that the politics of European integration ran ahead of the economics of the underlying reality.

The
last few weeks have exposed a sharp Franco-German divide. On one level,
this is ideological.

For France the euro is irreversible, the
culmination of decades of integration. But the German view differs.

They
see the single currency as an agreed set of rules and behaviours and,
if someone "breaks" the rules, they can be thrown out.

Their
analysis of the underlying economics of the crisis differs, too.

The
Germans believe the tough fiscal rules agreed in 2012 are the answer to
the crisis: legislate that states should be running sound public
finances and these sorts of crises won't appear.

7/21/15

The European Union approved the Iran nuclear deal with world powers
on Monday, a first step towards lifting Europe's economic sanctions
against Tehran that the bloc hopes will send a signal that the U.S.
Congress will follow.

In a message mainly aimed at skeptical voices in the U.S. Congress
and strong resistance from Israel, EU foreign ministers meeting in
Brussels stressed that there was no better option available.
"It is a balanced deal that means Iran won't get an atomic bomb,"
said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "It is a major political
deal."

Ministers waited until the U.N. Security Council also voted to
endorse the July 14 accord and then issued a nine-point text formally
committing to a gradual lifting of sanctions along with the United
States and the United Nations.

Ministers agreed that: "the lifting of economic and financial
sanctions would come into effect once the International Atomic Energy
Agency has verified that Iran has implemented its nuclear-related
commitments."

They also urged the deal's full implementation and said the agreement could transform the Middle East.
"Iran is back in the international community," said Jean Asselborn,
Luxembourg's foreign minister whose country holds the rotating six-month
EU presidency. Asselborn stressed the need for a dialog between Shi'ite
Muslim Iran and its Sunni rival Saudi Arabia for the sake of
stabilizing the Middle East.

Following the deal in Vienna, Iran has agreed to long-term curbs on a
nuclear program that the West suspected was aimed at creating an atomic
bomb, but which Tehran says is peaceful.
The EU will retain its ban on the supply of ballistic missile
technology and sanctions related to human rights, EU diplomats said.

Note EU-Digest: the historic relationship this century between Iran and the US has not been marked by US respect for Iran's independence or its political integrety. Probably culminating in the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected premier of Iran in a 1953 US-British coup after which the ruthless Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Shah was installed, by the Anglo US led secret services

Mossadegh, was toppled by the Anglo coalition after he nationalized the nation's foreign controlled oil industry.

7/20/15

Renowned economist, and a fervent critic of austerity, Paul Krugman
has slammed the Greek government for accepting harsh tax and reform
measures. On the very same weekend, German Finance Minister, Wolfgang
Schaeuble, openly questioned the Nobel Prize-winner's knowledge of
Europe's monetary union.

Krugman had been calling for Greece's government to
reject the proposals that creditors have demanded in exchange for
unlocking much-needed cash. He had dubbed the demands as "madness" and a
"complete destruction of national sovereignty."

With the reforms having been given the green light, Krugman told CNN Sunday that he may have "overestimated the competence of the Greek government."

"(The Greek government) thought they could simply
demand better terms without having any backup plan," he told the news
channel in an interview. "So, certainly this is a shock."

The radical-left Syriza Party was elected this year
with a mandate to reject tough austerity measures from creditors but
last week agreed to a deal despite Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stating
that he did not believe in it. Tsipras has since tried to weather a
storm within his own party and experts suggest that another election
could come later this year.

Krugman - a noted Keynesian - has been a very vocal
critic of the austerity that has been placed on Greece from euro zone
lawmakers, which include those in Berlin. Schaeuble used an opportunity
to respond to Krugman when asked about the economist in an interview
with German newspaper Der Spiegel.

"Krugman is a prominent economist who won a Nobel Prize for his trade theory," he said in an interview on Saturday.

"But he has no idea about the architecture and
foundation of the European currency union. In contrast to the United
States, there is no central government in Europe and all 19 members of
the euro zone must come to an agreement. It appears Mr. Krugman is
unaware of that."

The United Nations Security Council has endorsed the Iran nuclear deal, although the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander has deemed the agreement “unacceptable.”

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency quoted Commander Mohammed Ali Jafari:
“Some parts of the draft have clearly crossed the Islamic republic’s
red lines, especially in Iran’s military capabilities,” he reportedly
said ahead of the resolution being passed in New York.

The fifteen-member body unanimously agreed to adopt the resolution,
which will curb Iran’s nuclear programme for the long term in return for
the lifting of sanctions.

As the deal was agreed, the Security Council warned sanctions can be
reimposed if Tehran breaches the agreement within the next decade.

When I was a correspondent in Germany
two decades ago, in the run-up to unification and thereafter, interviews
with Helmut Kohl, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and other senior politicians –
such as Wolfgang Schäuble, who negotiated the two Germanys into one –
would always end with the mantra: “We want a European Germany, not a
German Europe.” It was true then but it is not true now.

Almost 25 years on from that October night in 1990 when I wrote the Guardian
splash with the headline “A New Colossus is born in Europe” the Greek
crisis has laid bare Germany’s transformation from “political dwarf,
economic giant” into a “political and economic bully” that provokes fear
and loathing among its victims and anxiety among its friends.

For Germanophiles such as me the country
won huge admiration for its at times savage, even exaggerated honesty
in dealing with its terrible past. There were setbacks: the murderous
arson attacks on asylum centres or on Turkish homes; Kohl’s execrable
use of “sympathy tourism” to explain away his absence from such scenes;
the odd march by a bunch of lumpen skinhead Nazis – all grotesquely
over-played in the foreign media as if the “brown flood” was on its way
back. In 2006, in the World Cup, we watched and celebrated a New
Germany: young, relaxed, at ease with itself (and its national flag) –
and open to the world.

7/19/15

Dozens of cars, full of young men and women waving bright orange flags,
are in a traffic jam in the government district of Beirut on a hot
Thursday morning. They are all supporters of the Christian Free
Patriotic Movement (FPM), and they are gathering for a protest.

"We are here to protect the rights of Christians in Lebanon," says the
23-year-old student Joel. Together with a girlfriend, she is holding up a
large poster of FPM party leader Michel Aoun. "The people up there
cannot keep making decisions over our heads," adds Anton as he joins the
girls. Those "up there" are the members of the Lebanese cabinet, which
is meeting less than 100 meters (110 yards) away, in the Grand Serail,
the headquarters of the Lebanese prime minister. Demonstrators are
demanding that Lebanon finally get a new president, but not just any
president - they want their president, and they are screaming at the top
of their lungs: "God, Lebanon and Aoun; we don't need more than that!"

Lebanon is ruled under a so-called consociational democracy in which
cabinet positions are allocated according to religious affiliation.
Thus, the head of state is a Maronite Christian, as the Maronites make
up the largest Christian community in Lebanon, alongside Orthodox
Christians and Catholics.

7/18/15

The so-called "burner" phones have been used not only in countries such
as Russia and China, which continue to be at loggerheads with the West
over a number of issues, including the Ukraine conflict - but also
during visits to close allies such as the Britain and the United States,
"Der Spiegel" news magazine reported on Saturday.

The magazine said politicians had been advised by Germany's Federal
Office for Information Security to use disposable phones and only
download essential data on it.

"There are clear signals that people are getting more sensible," the report quoted one security source as saying.

For years, security agencies have warned their leaders of the dangers of
mobile phones and eavesdropping. During their visits abroad, officials
run a particularly high risk when leaving phones unattended in order to
hold secret talks as this opens a window of opportunity for spy agencies
to manipulate the phones or even upload surveillance programs.

Following a year of revelations that the
US National Security Agency had allegedly been listening on phones
belonging to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other key German
politicians, these fears have become a reality for Germany. A WikiLeaks
report published last week suggested that NSA spying had gone on for
much longer than previously thought.

Despite the advice from Germany's security authorities the "burners"
have not been introduced universally across the cabinet. Both Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel
reportedly went on their recent respective trips to Cuba and China with
their normal phones.

Spain’s ‘Golden Visa’ scheme has been helping to bolster a recovery in parts of the country’s luxury property market.

Launched in 2013, the scheme grants Spanish residency to investors who spend at least 500,000 euros on property in the country.

It is one of several such schemes across Europe to
encourage foreign investment. The UK, Ireland, Portugal, Malta and
Cyprus have implemented similar programs.

“We have helped anyone who wants to come and invest in Spain,
to invest capital, to boost job creation in Spain – and we definitely
want that,” explained Spain’s Secretary General for Immigration and
Emigration, Marine del Corral Tellez.

House prices in Spain fell by more than 25 percent between 2007 and 2013 according to the country’s statistics bureau.

In some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods – such as Madrid’s
Salamanca and Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona – residential property has
already recovered more than 20 percent in lost value, primarily driven
for foreign demand.

The Dutch
government proposed on Wednesday freezing social security and student
benefits for citizens who join militant groups such as Islamic State, in
a bid to stem the numbers of young people leaving for conflict zones.

The
move was the latest in a flurry of measures - including a partial burqa
ban - in a country where polls have shown a hardening attitude towards
immigrants.

Governments across Europe have said they are worried about the risk of citizens returning radicalized to launch attacks at home.

"Anyone
who leaves to support ISIS (Islamic State), or to marry a jihadi
fighter, will be confronted with the freezing of their government
financing," the government said in a statement.

Europe's
police organization, Europol, said in January as many as 5,000 Europeans
had joined fighting in Syria - though Foreign Minister Bert Koenders
last month said only 190 Dutch citizens had left.

"It's
symbolic politics," said Simon Otjes, a researcher at the University of
Groningen, comparing the measure to the burqa ban which was imposed in
May even though very few women in the Netherlands wear the garment.

Prime
Minister Mark Rutte caused a storm in March when he said he would prefer
to see Dutch citizens who left for Iraq or Syria "fall in battle" than
return to the Netherlands.

Note EU-Digest: Whoever votes against this proposal in the Dutch parliament should be questioned about their sanity. Even this ban is far too light. Any Dutch or European citizen who joins militant groups such as Islamic State should be stripped of their nationality - no ifs or buts. .

7/17/15

German lawmakers on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new
bailout plan for Greece after German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned
that Greece would face chaos without a deal.

The bailout of Greece took several big strides
forward Friday after German lawmakers overwhelmingly gave their backing
to another financial rescue and the European Union confirmed it would
get Athens enough money to avoid an imminent debt default.

The developments, which capped a week in which Greece has cleared a
string of hurdles, prompted a positive assessment from Europe's bailout
fund. In a statement, the European Stability Mechanism said its board of
governors approved a "decision to grant, in principle, stability
support to Greece in the form of a loan program."

Though the broad outlines of the Greek bailout were agreed Monday by
the eurozone's 19 leaders, the ESM's decision formally kick-starts the
process by which Greece negotiates the nitty-gritty of its bailout
program.

The discussions, which are expected to last four weeks, will
include economic targets and reforms deemed necessary in return for an
anticipated 85 billion euros ($93 billion) over three years.

European car sales bounced back in the first half of the year and
rose almost 15 percent in June alone – even in Greece, according to new
car sales data, signalling a tentative rise in consumer confidence over
the regions' economic recovery.

New car sales in the European Union (EU) rose 8.2
percent in the first half of the year, according to data published by
the European Automobile Manufacturers Association on Thursday,
surpassing 7 million units (7,169,984).

All major markets posted growth, contributing to the overall upturn of the EU market over the period, the EAMA said.

In June alone, new passenger car registrations in
the region rose 14.6 percent from the same month a year ago, continuing
an upward trend that started 22 months ago "and marking the largest
over-the-month increase since December 2009," the association added.

Berlin is not just a popular tourist destination - it's also home to
ever more start-ups.

Berlin has established a reputation as Germany's entrepreneurs' capital.
It's seen the highest number of start-ups in the country,
ahead of Hamburg, since 2011, according to data from the Bonn Institute for the Study of Small and Mid-size Firms (IfM).

Berlin is well-suited to becoming a leading start-up metropolis in
Europe. It's already Europe's number two investment destination after
London, according to consultants EY.

Niko Woischnik has been organizing "Tech Open Air," a start-up
conference, for four years. He says more and more foreigners attend the
conference, which attracts around 5,000 visitors. And he isn't
surprised.

"The cost of living and the rents are relatively low, compared to other
European cities," he told DW, adding that Berlin's central location and
the fact that English is now the lingua franca also work in the German
capital's favor.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made changes to his government,
removing ministers who voted against reforms necessary for a rescue
deal. Nine changes were made overall.

The reshuffle on Friday came two days after a rebellion in Tsipras'
left-wing Syriza party forced him to rely on opposition votes to pass a
reform package in return for talks on a third international bailout for
his debt-stricken country.

Tsipras replaced Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, one of the
rebels, with former Labor Minister Panos Skourletis, whose position will
be taken by George Katrougalos, formerly Administrative Reforms
Minister.
Skourletis is a close ally of Tsipras.

The deputy minister of defense, who was close to Lafazanis, was also
removed from the post, to be replaced by Christoforos Vernardakis, an
academic.

The prime minister also named Trifon Alexiadis deputy finance minister,
replacing Nadia Valavani, who stepped down ahead of the vote earlier
this week.

The crucial portfolio of finance minister will be kept by Euclid
Tsakalotos, who took over the position on July 6 after the former
holder, Yanis Varoufakis, resigned.

The new members of the cabinet are scheduled to be sworn in on Saturday.

Families of the victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, which
crashed over eastern Ukraine a year ago, are marking the anniversary
amid calls for a UN-backed tribunal to prosecute those responsible for
the downing.
Memorial services are being held in several countries, including the Netherlands (196 dead) and Australia, home to many of the 298 victims of Flight MH17, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was shot down.

On Friday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott unveiled a permanent
memorial to the Australian victims in the nation's capital, Canberra.
The memorial, which features a plaque inscribed with the names of
Australians who were killed, is set in soil that a police officer
brought back from Ukraine.

"He knew that the place where MH17 came to rest was sacred and that a
piece of it should come back to Australia," Abbott said. "It was a
humane and decent thing for him to know and do. It was a contrast to the
savagery that brought down the plane."

Abbott and his wife then laid a wreath at the base of the plaque.
Dozens of family members of the victims followed, many in tears, as they
laid flowers alongside the wreath in honour of their loved ones.

In the Ukrainian village where the airliner was downed, residents
carrying flowers gathered in the church in the center of Hrabove at the
start of a procession to the crash site in nearby fields.

Friday's ceremony will include the dedication of a small stone with a
plaque. The commemoration has been organized by local leaders and the
Russia-backed separatist rebels who control the area.

Memorial services are being held in several
countries, including the Netherlands and Australia, home to many of the
298 victims of Flight MH17, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was shot down.

Their economy
gasping for air, Iranians expect a new crossdraft from the release of
their frozen assets, part of the breakthrough deal trimming their
country’s nuclear ambitions.

How those assets will bounce back, and how quickly, is far from
fully predictable. De-toxifying the international regulatory atmosphere
will be complex, but meanwhile, President Rouhani is keeping the message
to his people simple.

Rouhani said: “Today is a new beginning, the beginning of a better
future for our young people, and the beginning for our beloved Iran to accelerate its development.”

Major companies want to accelerate back into this market of some 80
million consumers. The general figure being floated is of some $100
billion in Iranian assets set to be unfrozen, personal or governmental
assets, which by right means the assets of the Iranian people.

In response to his president’s promise, one Tehran store owner said:
“Sure, it can be a new start. Our oil production will change, and in
the end the economy. As far as I know, European countries are ready to
invest in Iran and to have Iran invest there.”

Another retailer said: “No one would negotiate without a purpose.
Sure, they’ll profit from our country, but it will be really good for
us.”

The E-fan electric plane of European planemaker Airbus has made history
by being the first battery-operated electric plane to fly over the
English Channel.

Flying from Lydd, England, to Calais, France, recently, the
environmentally-friendly plane which operates on batteries only, uses no
oil or water. Thanks to that feature the 20-foot long, 1300-pound jet
releases absolutely no emissions.

Several companies in different countries are trying to develop electric
planes in hopes of offering a fuel-free and emissions-free flight
alternative for the future.

Duval told The Associated Press that his successful flight was a
"relief" and an "important moment" after years of developing the plane
and flying it over land.

Airbus' E-fan took its maiden voyage in March 2014, and has taken off
100 times since, its latest at Paris's International Air Show last
month. Airbus aims to put the two-seater on the market in 2017,
targeting sales at training facilities for entry-level pilots.

The first bullet train to be exported to Europe rolled off the production line at Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd，a subsidiary company of CRRC Corp, on Tuesday, according to China News Service on July 7.

The train was made in accordance with the national standard of Macedonia and meets the TSI (Technical Specification for Interoperability) standard. It boasts more complicated technology compared to the previous products exported to Europe, which include electric locomotives, subways and light rail trains, says the report.

The train is equipped with the advanced collision energy absorption system and it can ensure the safety of passengers and drivers when two trains collide. Safety is ensured running up to a speed of 36 km per hour, or a train running with a speed of 36 km per hour hits a 80-ton truck, and or a train running with a speed of 50 km bumps a 15-ton deformable barrier.

The train will run from north to south and travel through the capital of Macedonia. It will undertake 80 percent of the country's rail capacity, with a total length of 215 km. It is an important part of the 10th corridor of the Pan-European railway.

Macedonia's Minister of Transport and Communications Mile Janakieski thinks the cooperation helps Macedonia's dream: a long-planned bullet train project coming to fruition and has laid a solid foundation to further deepen bilateral cooperation in politics, economy and culture.

The first unmanned factory in Dongguan, a city of southeastern China's Guangdong province, lays out a vision of future manufacturing: all the processes are operated by computer-controlled robots, computer numerical control machining equipment, unmanned transport trucks and automated warehouse equipment.

The technical staff just sits at the computer and monitors through a central control system.

At the workshop of Changying Precision Technology Company in Dongguan, known as the "world factory", which manufactures cell phone modules, 60 robot arms at 10 production lines are polishing the modules day and night. Each line has an automatic belt and three workers who are just responsible for checking lines and monitoring.

A few months ago, it required 650 workers to finish this process. A robot arm can replace six to eight workers, now there are 60 workers and the number will be reduced to 20 in the future, according to Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company.

This is the first step of the "robot replace human" program. In the next two years the number of robots will be increased to 1,000 and 80 percent process will be conducted by robots, said Chen Qixing, president of the company.

Compared with many skilled workers, these robots are new hands. But they made far more and better products than well-trained workers and experts. Data shows that since the robots came to the factory, the defect rate of products has dropped from over 25 percent to less than 5 percent and the production capacity from more than 8,000 pieces per person per month increased to 21,000 pieces.

This company is only a microcosm of Dongguan, one of the manufacturing hubs in China. The City plans to finish 1,000 to 1,500 "robot replace human" programs by 2016.

With the implementation of "Made in China 2025" strategy, a growing number of "unmanned workshops or factories" will come out.

After the European commission controversially shelved its flagship
piece of waste and resource legislation – the circular economy package –
last year, first vice-president Frans Timmermans promised to re-table
it in a "more ambitious" form.

Recently, the European parliament laid down a marker on what such an
ambition should look like - and all eyes will now be on the commission
to make sure it pays attention.

MEPs voted 394 to 197 in favour of a report formalising their
expectations for the revised package, calling for legally-binding
targets on a broad array of waste, recycling and resource use issues.

Ahead of the vote, the worry had been that the package would be
watered down and stripped of much of its legally-binding language, or
even rejected outright by the centre-right EPP bloc.

Given the well-known challenges ahead, the transition to a circular
economy is crucial. The EU is highly dependent on the import of raw
materials and a significant number of natural resources face rapid
depletion.

In addition, every EU citizen produces five tonnes of waste per year on average, of which only one third is recycled. This underlines the urgent need to use the strategic stock of resources in a more sustainable and efficient way.

Flanders,an EU parliamentarian said; "the nation I represent in
the European parliament, has a strong track record on waste management.
65 per cent of our household waste is recycled, making us the top
performer in Europe.

Flanders also has some successful pioneers in the broader field of
circular economy. Building on that expertise, I have engaged
constructively in the ongoing discussions to make real progress. My
contribution has centred around economics, scientific data and
subsidiarity.

Apart from the important intrinsic environmental benefits, making our
economy more circular essentially boils down to economics and
competitiveness. It concerns access to - or the sustainable availability
of - raw materials, the re-industrialisation and further digitalisation
of Europe, the creation of new jobs and challenges linked to climate,
energy and scarce resources.

I still consider this to be the most powerful argument to convince
non-believers. If we want the circular economy to work in practice, we
need competitive businesses which act as a driving force towards
systemic change.

I am convinced that there is now a genuine window of opportunity to
achieve this, but we need smart policy which reduces burdens and
barriers, stimulates innovation as well as new business models which
create long-term legal certainty.

Furthermore, effective policies should always be underpinned by sound
and scientifically-founded data. The feasibility of new proposals
should be subject to comprehensive impact assessments. A circular
economy requires a mix of instruments, at various policy levels taking
full account of subsidiarity.

The report adopted in parliament's environment, public health and
food safety committee explicitly refers to subsidiarity, but I remain
cautious. I fully support the key messages of the resolution adopted in
its recent strategic report, and three of these stand out to me.

We must have the means to effectively measure and reduce the overall
use of resources, we require a well thought-out product policy, and we
must incentivise smarter waste management.

However, I believe that parliament could send out an even stronger
signal if it focused on the important political messages and avoid the
detail and prescription that risk overshadowing these essential points.

Given what is at stake, we must be ambitious. At the same time, if we
want to ensure substantial progress in the real world - rather than
just on paper - we need to reconcile ambition with realism.

Our proposals need to work and be achievable. I represent a
top-performing nation, therefore my level of ambition is high. But
something European environment agency Hans Bruyninckx said often crosses
my mind:

"if you think you are leading, but nobody is following, you
are just taking a walk".

Reconciling ambition with realism does not equal lowering our level
of ambition. On the contrary, it is a strong commitment to make the
circular economy happen in practice.